2022/2023

2024/2025

DM270

SECS-P/01 (POLITICAL ECONOMY)

DEPARTMENT OF BRAIN AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES

PERCORSO COMUNE

3°

2nd semester (17/02/2025 - 06/06/2025)

6

44 lesson hours

Italian

WRITTEN TEST

ROSTI LUISA (titolare) - 6 ECTS

Read the syllabus. Know the basic concepts of microeconomics and the elementary use of Excel.

The educational objectives of the course are specified in terms of learning outcomes with reference to the Dublin descriptors, and they are expressed in terms of acquired skills, both subject specific (Descriptors 1-2) and general or cross-cutting (Descriptors 3-4-5).
The educational profile is aimed at preparing human resources for public or private companies that also operate at an international level. Topics are characterized by the solid anchoring to knowledge and skills that start from the basic skills for the labor market analysis and develop with the contemporary economic literature on Personnel Economics and Gender Studies. The integration of these components represents consolidated knowledge that is easily recognizable (and therefore assessable) in every working environment and in every professional context. These specific skills are added to the cross-cutting skills acquired through a teamwork designed to enhance the assumption of mutual responsibility and interdependence of result. These skills are professionally recognized because in modern economies the result of a work performance is not only an expression of the productive characteristics and commitment of an individual, but also of the system of interpersonal relationships in which she is inserted. Finally, the educational objectives of this course include some digital skills listed in the DIGCOMP 2.2 European reference framework, such as surfing the web, downloading information from official national and international databases (ISTAT, EUROSTAT, OECD, etc.), processing data with Excel, and interacting with others to share information remotely. These skills are all the more necessary the more the digital transformation of the economy leads to data-driven decisions, i.e. based on research and data analysis, and are added to the disciplinary knowledge acquired through lectures and to the cross-cutting skills acquired through team work.
The teaching activities are divided into two modules: in the first module, to which the initial 22 hours of the academic calendar are dedicated, the expected learning result is the transfer of knowledge and understanding through lectures. During these lessons, the teacher presents the scheduled topics in the classroom with the aid of text and graphic slides, in order to induce students to use the dual channel (verbal and visual) to process and assign meaning to the contents. The slides and audio and video files of the lessons are made available on Kiro in asynchronous mode.
The following 22 hours are instead aimed at pursuing the objectives of transferring applied knowledge and understanding skills (descriptor 2) and the development of cross-cutting skills (descriptors 3-4-5) through a teamwork related to a case study (Report on the situation of employees of a large company - chosen by the team - in the context of a local labor market assigned by the teacher). After the lessons of the first module, the teacher divides the students into heterogeneous groups of six to eight members. The team is self-managed, that is, it adopts the rules of conduct and communication technologies it deems most appropriate and develops the activities necessary to perform the assigned task. In each team there is a contact person with a non-pedagogical role but of spokesperson and coordination.
Teamwork requires the production of a structured report on the situation of the staff starting from the identification of relevant information, their acquisition through access to online databases and their processing and representation with graphs and tables; the paper ends with the simulation of an interview with the human resources manager of the large company chosen by the team and serves the purpose of highlighting the specific problems that emerged from the analysis of the data regarding the selection and incentive of employees in the various stages of their career path.
At the end of the course, students will be able to represent the main phenomena relating to the external and internal labor market; they will be able to use alternative theories to explain the management of human resources by comparing different situations and dynamics; they will be able to research data and digital content, interpret and critically evaluate information and describe the results by combining theoretical aspects with operational solutions; they will be able to express judgments even if they have incomplete information; they will be able to autonomously integrate their knowledge by collecting and processing information and extending the application of what they have learned to different contexts.
The students will thus demonstrate that they have acquired the skills for initiative and learning, for interpretation and argumentation, for the processing of information and for the autonomy of judgment that are required for the award of the final second cycle qualifications.

The course presents a mainstream economic approach to human resource management (Personnel Economics). The topics covered provide students with an analytical context to understand the different organizational structures of companies and the different practices of personnel management. Where appropriate, topics are treated with a gender approach. Gender competences are included in the European classification of competences and skills (ESCO) with the denominations "ensure gender equality in the workplace" and "promote equal pay". The relevance of the gender approach in the human resources management finds an explicit reference in the "Code of equal opportunities between men and women" (recently amended by law 162/21) which requires public and private companies with 50 or more employees to draw up, every two years, a report on the situation of personnel which contains information on the number of employees broken down by gender, their career path and their wage. The purpose of the provision is to monitor corporate situations in order to combat discrimination and support the implementation of positive actions.

The contents of the program are divided into 9 topics:

1) - The demographic context and the structure of the labor market
2) - The economic approach to human behavior
3) - Causes and consequences of the gender division of labor
4) - The employment relationship as an agency relationship
5) - Selection and incentive of employees
6) - Career paths and the optimal allocation of talent
7) - The economic relevance of gender stereotypes
8) – Gender pay gap and discrimination
9) - Policies for Equal Opportunities.

The teaching method includes lectures and teamwork, and is substantially consistent with the principles of Evidence Based Education both in the planning of teaching and in the definition of assessment procedures. This methodology applies pedagogical paradigms derived from experimental research that study the impact of teaching strategies on learning. The points of the program relating to teamwork and the criteria adopted for assessing learning outcomes make specific reference to this method. The design of teamwork is structured by integrating three objectives: 1) use of basic digital skills such as access to databases, remote communication of information and participation in online educational activities; 2) apply knowledge and understanding by transferring to a specific case study what has been learned from lectures, or from independently researched literature, and what emerged from data analysis; 3) develop the cross-cutting skills required by the Dublin descriptors: independent judgment, communication skills, autonomous learning skills.
Teamwork is partly free and partly structured. In the free part, students will be able to experiment with the construction of their own knowledge and meet the difficulties of the problem setting by choosing which problems to face and supporting their choices with what emerges from the data collected; in the structured part the students receive a task from the teacher to carry out with detailed indications of what is expected of them and how their work will be evaluated.
The planning of the teaching also responds to the need to facilitate students who cannot attend regularly, since the preliminary and detailed knowledge of the planned activities allows them to make optimal attendance choices. In particular, the availability of KYRO's technological equipment and the use of modern communication technologies allow the autonomous study and participation in the teamwork even at a distance, reducing the elements of separation between attending and non-attending students.
The syllabus is presented and discussed in the classroom, during the first lessons, because learning improves if the educational objectives are explained before the scheduled activities, and if students are informed about what they must be able to do both to overcome the examination and the methods of evaluating their performance (Trinchero 2013).

All teaching materials are available on the KIRO platform at the beginning of the teaching.

The overall assessment derives from an individual written test, which contributes to the result for two thirds, and from the assessment of a teamwork that contributes to the result for a third. The results of the tests will be announced individually via email to allow students to ask for any explanations on the results before they are entered in the essetre system.
The individual written test lasts 45 minutes and is structured in three articulated questions, with open answers in predefined spaces. Each question is evaluated up to a maximum of 10 points. The use of manuals, phones, tablets, calculators, notes, etc. is not allowed during the test. Students who obtain a score lower than 13/30 will have to repeat the test. The assessment is comparative, the assessment procedures are adequate to the expected learning outcomes, and are applied consistently for the entire academic year; Therefore, examination methods other than those indicated are not admissible, neither in the case of small numbers of students enrolled in the exam, nor in the case of requests for substitute and / or alternative tests.
The didactic planning of teamwork is aimed at the acquisition of transversal skills; therefore, participation in this activity is mandatory and is subject to assessment, but it does not imply the obligation to attend or be present in the classroom: all students enrolled in teaching, attending and non-attending, will be inserted by the teacher in a team that will autonomously decide the most appropriate internal communication technologies and the most convenient ways to perform the assigned task. The positive evaluation of the teamwork (out of thirty) allows each person to take the individual written test in each session of the current academic year of his choice, but in case of insufficiency in the individual written test, or refusal of the grade, it will also be necessary to repeat the teamwork (by way of derogation, and at the discretion of the teacher, it will be possible to repeat - for only once - the individual test without losing the teamwork).
In the teamwork the research and analysis of the data, the references to the literature, the relevance of the bibliographic sources cited, the consistency of the commentary of the results with the teaching contents, and the argumentation on the positive and normative aspects of the situations highlighted. In the drafting of the interview, in particular, the fact that students propose themselves as bearers of disciplinary knowledge will be rewarded, and finally the form of the report will also be appreciated, if accurate in editing and free of errors.
It should be emphasized that the assessment of teamwork values the assumption of mutual responsibility and interdependence with respect to the result because the team is collectively responsible for achieving its objectives: everyone is responsible for their own learning and that of the other participants. The teamwork bears the signature of everyone, meaning that each has mastery of the contents, the calculation procedures adopted for processing the data and the results obtained. The success of one is the success of all, but no one can succeed if someone in the team fails, because the vote is unique.
The verification of learning outcomes includes, in addition to the hetero-evaluation aspect, also a self-evaluation tool which consists of an open-ended questionnaire on five questions (one for each Dublin Descriptor). To these questions a non-generic answer is required, which explains whether and how it is believed that the learning outcomes have been achieved. The answers are not subject to assessment by the teacher but are intended to make the students aware of the skills acquired, and must be attached to the teamwork.

NOTE: students enrolled in the Inclusive Learning Modalities programme (“Modalità didattiche inclusive) are requested to contact the Professor and the Degree Course Coordinator in order to assess specific needs and define targeted support actions.

Target 5.4: Value unpaid care and promote shared domestic responsibilities
Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.

Target 5.5: Ensure full participation in leadership and decision-making
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
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